Opposition rejects Budget

Press, 3 September 1982, Page 4

Opposition rejects Budget

PA Wellington The Government was backing a horse that was not going to win and might have to be destroyed, Parliament was told last evening as the Opposition moved the traditional no-confidence amendment during the Budget debate. . Labour's deputy leader, Mr Lange, compared the Government to addicted gamblers who "absolutely refuse to accept reality because there will' always be the possibility that their horse might come home in the second or third leg.” His amendment, which will be put at the end of the Budget debate, probably next week, said the Appropriation Bill should not be given a second reading until the Government explained why the Budget did not correct “its policy to reduce living standards of New Zealand families. its failure to prevent record post-war unemployment, and its failure to. reduce inflation to the rate of our trading partners." Record overseas borrowing, the internal deficit, the balance-of-payments. deficit, and lack of a coherent plan for the recovery of the economy should also be explained, Mr Lange said.